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Sarah Wayne Callies in Domiz refugee camp, part 2

Two years after the start of what has become a full-fledged civil war, the crisis in Syria threatens the entire Middle East with a humanitarian disaster. More than 1 million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries, and thousands more are crossing borders every day.

Video Transcription

Sarah Wayne Callies:

I’ve spent two days sitting with people. I’ve probably spoken to close to 100 of the residents of this camp — which doesn’t even scratch the surface, quite frankly. But It was a sample of women, a sample of youth, and a sample of men. And what I’ve observed and heard from each of them is a tremendous devotion to their community and a tremendous devotion to making this camp a safe, humane place where they look out for one another, where they educate each other.

Most of the people I spoke to spoke of other people’s needs: able-bodied people speaking out on behalf of the disabled community, the older members of the camp talking about their concerns about the youth. Men talking about their concerns about women’s safety. This is a group of people who have a strong identity as Kurds and a strong sense of community and belonging to one another. And I think if we give them the opportunity they will turn this camp into something that we can all be more proud of and something that makes us all feel more human.

So if you’ve got a minute, we could use your help.

ENDS

Thanks to Sparked.com volunteer Rhonda H. for transcribing this video.